At least one example embodiment of the inventive concepts relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device for controlling a refresh operation by using cell characteristic flags and a refresh method of the semiconductor memory device.
A volatile memory device such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) performs a refresh operation to maintain stored data. In the case that a DRAM memory cell has a shorter data retention time than a standard refresh period, refresh leveraging for adjusting a refresh period of a weak cell is performed to revive the weak cell. Information about the weak cell to which refresh leveraging is performed is stored in the same storage space as an anti-fuse array. The size of the storage space may cause a chip size overhead problem in a memory device.